Central drops matches to Bethany, MCC

Wednesday

Oct 16, 2013 at 9:29 AM

The CCC volleyball team made the short trip north to Lindsborg Monday to play a match with the Bethany College Swedes.

By BC and CCCSports Information

The CCC volleyball team made the short trip north to Lindsborg Monday to play a match with the Bethany College Swedes. The Tigers were defeated in three straight sets 25-14, 25-16, 28-26. It took the Tigers the first two sets to get warmed up before they finally made a run at the Swedes in the third set. However, at that point it was too little too late.Mayuko Shono and Brittany Bergstrom led the Tiger attack. Shono recorded 14 kills on 30 swings with eight errors. Bergstrom had eight kills on 20 attacks with five errors. They accounted for over two-thirds of the Tiger kills. The category that jumps off the stats page is blocks. The Tigers managed just two while the Swedes recorded eight.Senior Maria Bujanda led the Swedes with 13 kills, followed by sophomore Bryanna Cool with 11. Freshman Eileen Vlamis recorded 15 assists as junior Alexa Gerber added 11. Senior Sarah Phelps recorded 16 digs, followed by Gerber and sophomore Quethzally Chaparro with five each. Seniors Kaitlyn Davis and Danielle Savage combined for four assisted blocks each as Gerber and Vlamis contributed two apiece. Phelps added four service aces while Vlamis tacked on three."It was good to get our second win in three days," Bethany coach Nathalea Stephenson said. "When we got out of system we were able to get back and finish. We had nine ace serves and were able to run plays off of free balls. It was a good win for us."It was a relatively evenly played game. The Swedes had 34 kills while the Tigers had 30. Besides blocks, two other glaring differences were the attacking errors and service aces. The Tigers had nine more errors than the Swedes and four fewer service aces.The Tiger volleyball team then hosted the NCCAA fifth-ranked Manhattan Christian College Crusaders on Tuesday night. The Crusaders ruined the Tigers' night defeating them in straight sets 25-15, 25-20, 25-16. The Tigers put up a good fight, staying with the Crusaders in each game but in each set, the Tigers allowed the Crusaders to make a run, of which they were unable to come back from.The Tigers, who had 25 kills on the night, were led by Mayuko Shono, Israel Espinosa, and Brittany Bergstrom who each recorded 6 kills. On the defensive side of things, Samantha Dahl was all over the floor recording 11 digs. At the net, Brittany Bergstrom had a solo block and assisted on two others.The loss gives the Tigers an overall record of 4-19. They take a few days off before playing at home again on Saturday against Central Christian College of the Bible. Game time is scheduled for 1 pm.